The sources of tension in Jewish-Vatican relations are many, and Jesuit Father David Neuhaus calls this a moment for "patience, wisdom and prayer."

Father Neuhaus, the secretary-general of the Hebrew-speaking Catholic Vicariate in Israel, known also as the Association of St. James, told ZENIT he was "following with great sadness and anxiety the deterioration of relations between the Holy See and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate."

Relations between the two came to a breaking point this week in the wake of the Vatican's announcement Saturday that lifted the excommunication of holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X.-Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has begun a comprehensive study of institutes of women religious in the United States.

The congregation's prefect, Cardinal Franc Rodé, initiated the action with a decree issued Dec. 22, 2008, and officially launched today at a press conference held in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The visitation will look into the quality of the life of women religious in the United States.

Cardinal Rodé appointed Mother Mary Clare Millea, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as apostolic visitator. Mother Millea heads her congregation that counts on 1,250 professed sisters worldwide, including 135 in the United States.-Read More

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 29, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The value of Christian marriage runs the risk of being practically destroyed if the sacrament is declared null because of pretexts, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he addressed the Roman Rota at the beginning of the juridical year. In his reflection, he noted that many topics could be considered, but he chose an evaluation of the implementation of two addresses given by Pope John Paul II more than 20 years ago on the theme of marriage impediments due to psychological problems.-Read More

It is one of the great puzzles to me why people do not find it obvious that drums, electric guitars, and music with pop beats do not belong in church — certainly not in liturgy but not even in evangelical worship environments. It is so lost on me why people can't see what is wrong with "Christian contemporary" music at church that I find it difficult to even rationally argue the point — which I freely admit is a failing on my part. -Read More

It has been a quarter of a century now since the Catholic intelligentsia thundered against Jehovah's Witnesses' massive preaching activity in the pages of Civiltà Cattolica, [the Jesuit Journal] (18 February 1984, n. 3208, p. 327).

Today, mutatis mutandis, the alarmism of that time seems no longer justified, albeit a greater awareness of the problem demands a more mature reflection that takes into account all that it has been possible to observe and examine in recent decades. -Read More

The national pro-life postcard campaign being conducted in parishes throughout the country is a way for Catholics who supported Barack Obama for president to tell him they did so despite, not because of, the new president's stand on abortion, according to officials of the U.S. bishops' pro-life office.

"Many Catholics voted for Obama despite his position on abortion, and they have an obligation to say 'This is not why I voted for you,'" said Richard M. Doerflinger, associate director of the USCCB Office of Pro-Life Activities, at a Jan. 22 briefing with the Catholic press in Washington.-Read More

(NEW YORK - C-FAM ) On his third day in office, U.S. president Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to abortion rights groups by issuing an executive rescinding the Mexico City Policy that protected American taxpayers from funding abortion overseas. Obama’s executive order makes international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote and perform abortions in developing countries eligible for public funds.-Read More

Unborn baby (NEW YORK – C-FAM) According to a new article circulated by the abortion advocacy organization Ipas, widespread access to “safe abortion” trumps concerns over the gender imbalance stemming from “sex selective” abortion.-Read More

(C-FAM - NEW YORK) Three international homosexual rights advocacy organizations are jointly urging the treaty compliance committee that reviews implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to incorporate the controversial “Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” in its recommendations.-Read More

(NEW YORK – C-FAM) The Philippine Senate is debating legislation passed last month by the lower house that would mandate adoption of “gender mainstreaming” throughout the country. The legislation troubles critics who believe the bill is being advanced by well-meaning legislators who are unaware of the full implications of the language proposed. -Read More

(NEW YORK – C-FAM) The committee that monitors state compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will begin a new session in Geneva next week, but even prior to the meeting six of the eight states who will be reviewed have already been questioned on abortion. In a stinging written response to the CEDAW committee’s advance questions, Cameroon fired back that “abortion is murder.”-Read More

(NEW YORK – C-FAM) The United Nations (UN) committee responsible for vetting applications of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for official status began its latest session this week. The committee is slated to consider the Mexican affiliate of “Catholics” for a Free Choice – now called as Catholics for Choice (CFC) - an abortion advocacy organization which has worked hard to get the Holy See stripped of its UN observer status.-Read More

When President Obama ended the "Mexico City policy" he cleared the way for the use of American taxpayers' dollars to promote and subsidize abortion in other countries. The President took that action by himself, by means of an executive order.

However, Congress had an opportunity to reverse the President's awful decision. Senator Mel Martinez of Florida promptly offered an amendment to pending legislation that would have, in effect, reinstated the Mexico City policy. Unfortunately the Martinez amendment was defeated in a 60- 37 Senate vote.-Read More

God himself, in creating man in his own image, has written upon his heart the desire to see him. Even if this desire is often ignored, God never ceases to draw man to himself because only in God will he find and live the fullness of truth and happiness for which he never stops searching. By nature and by vocation, therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God. This intimate and vital bond with God confers on man his fundamental dignity.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has revived the Malthusian argument that people-- specifically children--- are a burden on the economy.

It's true that children are a financial burden: primarily on their parents, but even on society at large. But then a funny thing happens. The children grow up. They become productive citizens. They care for their aging parents. And-- are you paying attention, Madam Speaker?-- they pay taxes.-Read More

Scripture meditation: I will put enmities between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers. He shall crush your head. Genesis 3:15

Reflection: The Old Testament recounts the period of salvation history that slowly prepared for the coming of Christ into the world. It brings into gradually sharper focus the figure of the Woman, Mother of the Redeemer, already foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent.

Vatican II: Lumen Gentium/The Church, 55 (1962-1965AD) Mini-Bio: 21st Ecumenical council: Convened by John XXIII 1958-1963; Closed by Paul VI 1963-1978: Descisions: Issued pastoral documents on the renewal and reform of the Church, intending to make the Church more effective in dealing with the contemporary world.

Prayer: O Mary, you were chosen by God to be the Mother of the Redeemer. Protect me always from evil and obtain eternal salvation for me in heaven with you and your Son Jesus.

The Compendium is a faithful and sure synthesis of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is not a work that stands alone, nor is it intended in any way to replace the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is meant to reawaken interest in and enthusiasm for the Catechism, which always remains the basic text for catechesis in the Church today. The Compendium contains, in concise form, all the essential and fundamental elements of the Church’s faith, thus constituting a kind of authoritative handbook (vademecum) which allows believers and non-believers alike to behold the entire panorama of the Catholic faith. - Pope Benedict XVI

Man's Capacity for God

Question 1: What is the plan of God for man?

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.

Vatican officials have denounced US President Barack Obama's decision to sign an executive order last week allowing funding for foreign organizations that provide abortions and abortion referrals.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that "if this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment."

“It is essential to know how to listen to all of the requests of the country without shutting one's self up in an ideological vision with the arrogance of thinking that having power means the power over life and death," he said.-Read More

More than 300,000 people assembled in Washington, D.C. yesterday for the 36th Annual March for Life.

But as far as The New York Times is concerned, it never happened. Could The Times’ non-coverage of this year’s massive March for Life have anything to do with the paper’s dogmatically pro-abortion editorial policy? Perish the thought!

Once again, The New York Times makes the news fit its agenda.-Read More

Gay rights activists are weighing the wisdom of rushing in front of voters a repeal of the state ballot measure that banned gay marriage.

While two initiatives seeking to undo Proposition 8 -- the voter-approved measure -- already have been submitted to the Secretary of State, pro-gay marriage leaders say 2010 may be too soon to bring the issue back before voters.

"There is one thing worse than losing Prop. 8, and that would be losing again," said Chad Griffin, a Los Angeles political consultant who organized Hollywood's opposition to the ban.-Read More

The Holy Eucharist is the most important of the seven sacraments because, in this and in no other sacrament, we receive the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Innumerable, precious graces come to us through the reception of Holy Communion.

Communion is an intimate encounter with Christ, in which we sacramentally receive Christ into our bodies, that we may be more completely assimilated into his. "The Eucharist builds the Church," as Pope John Paul II said (Redemptor Hominis 20). It deepens unity with the Church, more fully assimilating us into Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; CCC 1396).

The Eucharist also strengthens the individual because in it Jesus himself, the Word made flesh, forgives our venial sins and gives us the strength to resist mortal sin. It is also the very channel of eternal life: Jesus himself.

In John’s gospel, Jesus summarized the reasons for receiving Communion when he said:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever" (John 6:53–58).

Because of the gravity of Jesus’ teaching on receiving the Eucharist, the Church encourages Catholics to receive frequent Communion, even daily Communion if possible, and mandates reception of the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season. Before going to Communion, however, there are several things one needs to know. -Read More

Monsignor Mark Langham, an official at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the section that deals with Anglicans and Methodists, affirmed this to L'Osservatore Romano. The Vatican daily is doing a series of articles on the advance of ecumenism, in light of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which ends Sunday.

The monsignor said that 2008 was an important year for dialogue, given that informal contacts were established with leaders of both confessions.-Read More

Taking place just two days after the March for Life in Washington, D.C., the archdiocesan Respect Life Mass in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Jan. 24 will have bicoastal participants joining local parishioners in a Requiem for the Unborn.

Ten Knights from the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, from both East and West Coasts, are expected to be present at the 6 p.m. Mass this year to show their support for the archdiocese's annual Respect Life liturgy, with Cardinal Roger Mahony presiding.

The parishioners in our church used to be spontaneous in their reactions to excellent homilies that the priests deliver. The parishioners, sometimes, respectfully applaud after the homily, either to communicate that they are in agreement with the priest, or to offer their appreciation. However, when a newly ordained priest came, and this happened after a homily he gave, he gravely scolded the people for the impropriety of their action and reminded them that they are attending a Mass and not a performance. From then on, people's spontaneity is gone; occasionally, applause would be heard, but one can sadly sense the hesitation. Could you enlighten us on the propriety of people applauding after the homily? D.B., Denver, Colorado

A: First of all, it is a very hopeful sign of overall improvement in the quality of homilies that the faithful consider them worthy of applause.

That said, the young priest was correct in stating that, in general, applause is to be discouraged during Mass. -Read More

Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco and the administrative offices of the Archdiocese of San Francisco were vandalized in early January with graffiti critical of the church's support of Proposition 8, the California voter initiative that overturned last May's state Supreme Court ruling declaring that all couples have the right to marry regardless of sexual orientation.-Read More.

Thousands of pro-life marchers are expected to rally in Washington Jan. 22 to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, just days after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

Abortion opponents also will hold multiple events in the nation's capital and throughout the U.S. the day before and the day of the official 2009 March for Life, as well as the following days.

The main event will begin with a noon rally on the National Mall, followed by a march along Constitution Avenue that will end at the U.S. Supreme Court. From there, participants are encouraged to meet with members of Congress to lobby on abortion-related issues.-Read More.

Civitavecchia and Medjugorje represent the most recent and sensational cases: places where the alleged visionaries say they have had and continue to have apparitions of the Virgin, even if Our Lady would simply give them absolutely inconsistent messages from a theological and spiritual point of view . The result: the faithful are bewildered because of the evidence that the Church not only has not yet recognized them as truthful, but will hardly approve them in the future. As we know, however, the caution of the Church is very great in the matter: there are hundreds of cases of apparitions rejected and branded as false in the past fifty years. Nevertheless, there are those who continue to swear to see the Madonna, drawing to their places crowds of desperate faithful, many times in search of a miracle or a grace that, however, does not come.-Read More.

JERUSALEM, JAN. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Bishops who visited the Middle East in support of the Church there have a final message at the end of their stay: "Do not be afraid. Come as pilgrims to the Holy Land."

This was part of the appeal made in a statement today from nine bishops of the Holy Land Coordination, a group of American and European prelates who make an annual visit to the Middle East.

In their statement, "Stop the Violence! Stop the Killing! Start to Build Peace," the bishops address the international community, the members of their own Churches, and the faithful of the Holy Land.-Read More.

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, the famous convert to Catholicism and editor in chief of the journal First Things, passed away yesterday morning, Jan. 8, in a New York hospital. He was 72.

CNA was informed of Fr. Neuhaus’ death through an announcement from George Weigel, who stated, "Father Richard John Neuhaus was called home to the house of the Father at about 09:30 EST today. May God grant him the reward of his labors, and give consolation and peace to those who loved him and who will carry on his work."

Fr. Neuhaus revealed his battle with cancer in an article written on December 5. "The nature of the cancer is beginning to come into clearer focus, and I hope to have more details in short order. Meanwhile, I will, please God, continue to be as engaged as possible in the work of First Things and other apostolates, even as I am compelled by grace to know more deeply our solidarity within the Body of Christ," he wrote.

In late December, the First Things blog disclosed that Fr. Neuhaus’ health had taken a turn for the worse. During the Christmas Season he became "dangerously ill" from what appeared to be "a systemic infection," which left him very weak. "Entering the hospital the day after Christmas, he was sedated to lower an elevated heart rate and treatment was begun for the infection." -Read More.

Thousands of pro-life marchers are expected to rally in Washington Jan. 22 to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, just days after President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

Abortion opponents also will hold multiple events in the nation's capital and throughout the U.S. the day before and the day of the official 2009 March for Life, as well as the following days.

The main event will begin with a noon rally on the National Mall, followed by a march along Constitution Avenue that will end at the U.S. Supreme Court. From there, participants are encouraged to meet with members of Congress to lobby on abortion-related issues.-Read More.

Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco and the administrative offices of the Archdiocese of San Francisco were vandalized in early January with graffiti critical of the church's support of Proposition 8, the California voter initiative that overturned last May's state Supreme Court ruling declaring that all couples have the right to marry regardless of sexual orientation.-Read More.

Catholics lamenting the likely appointment of yet another pro-abortion Catholic Kennedy to the senate may be dismayed by a report that the presidential family’s alliance to abortion “rights” was actively nurtured by dissident Catholic priests and theologians.In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Anne Hendershott explored the roots of New York Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy’s support for abortion, despite the fact that she identifies herself as a Catholic, much like her parents John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. LifeSiteNews.com reported last month that one of the first telephone calls Kennedy made after making the decision to pursue Hillary Clinton’s senate seat was to the New York division of the abortion lobby NARAL. Since then she has publicly professed her support for Roe v. Wade.-Read More.

Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Francisco’s gay Castro community, was vandalized over the weekend by opponents of Proposition 8, the California resolution passed by voters in November that rejected gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and Niederauer (the San Francisco Archbishop) were scrawled besides the Nazi symbol.-Read More.

According to a new article circulated by the abortion advocacy organization Ipas, widespread access to “safe abortion” trumps concerns over the gender imbalance stemming from “sex selective” abortion.

As sex-selective abortion overwhelmingly targets unborn girls, the article by Ipas senior research and policy advisor Bela Ganatra acknowledges that the issue divides the “reproductive rights community.” Abortion advocates are “often torn between their desire to allow women to choose when and if to have children, and their own personal disagreement with the basis for that choice.” Ipas, however, comes down on the side of widespread access to abortion, even if this means a female “birth dearth.” -Read More.